Launched
Called into the gallery, I enter. ‘Maranga mai, e te iwi. O ngā hapū Ngā Puhi . . . ’
From one waka to another. I leave Ōtautahi in the South Island, Te Waka o Māui to some and Te Waka o Aoraki to others, making my way to the clear blue waters of Te Tai Tokerau. It is my first time travelling anywhere north of Tāmaki Makaurau and is a trip I have been meaning to make for a long time. I have arrived in Whangārei to visit the inaugural exhibition at the Wairau Māori Art Gallery, Puhi Ariki.
It is curated by Nigel Borell (Ngāti Ranginui, Ngāi te Rangi, Te Whakatōhea, Te Rarawa, Ngāti Apakura) who, for many years, has been instrumental in creating space for Māori stories to be told. You may remember him as the visionary of the 2020 monumental exhibition, Toi Tū, Toi Ora:
at Toi o Tāmaki Auckland Art Gallery, celebrating Māori art in all forms and from multiple generations. has a much smaller footprint and list of artworks than the Auckland show, however we still get to experience these same elements, here through the local and promoting a ‘strong and very Northland-centric’ voice.
